Knowledge

Q & A with Sri Sri on 15^th June2007 in Bangalore Ashram

Question: Guruji how do we know that our experiences are authentic? And how do we know that we are progressing on the spiritual path?

Si Sri: You know doubt always come on that is true. You never doubt depression. You doubt love, whereas you never doubt anger! Therefore if you are having a doubt on your experiences just know that they are all authentic (Laughter!!).

And how to gaze whether your are progressing on the spiritual path or not; see if you have become more compassionate. See if you feel more relaxed and free now. Do you feel free or not? Just see within yourself. See how much does the entire happening around you bother you. Do they bother you like before or not? Does the external events bother you still? Even if they bother you see how much time does it stay for. See how fast you are catching up with your self! You should not think that, oh! I should never get upset! See hoe fast you are coming back to your self! A few minutes of distraction and then you are back. Don't Judge yourself. There is no need to judge yourself. Can you become a student and an examiner at the same time? No. Certainly not! You are learning now so leave the evaluation work to some one else!! Let Him decide, let Him evaluate!! (Laughter)!!

Question: Guruji, I have been practicing in the Spiritual path for quite sometime, but I still find that I am not able to become dispassionate. To bring about dispassion in me what should I do?

Si Sri: Don't get caught up in words. These are just all words. I tell you if you are centered dispassion comes to you automatically. Just be centered. You do seva, satsang, and sadhna and you will be rest everything is just falling in place for you.

Question: Guruji what is the difference the mind and the soul? And how is it connected to each other?

Si Sri: The mind is like the wave and the Soul is like the ocean. And the connection between the two is that the mind cannot be without the soul, but the soul can exist without the mind. So in meditation you drop the mind, you become one with the totality that is the ocean. Therefore there are both existing together, the mind as well as the soul, like the wave as well as the ocean.

Question: Guruji, in my meditation often I feeling doing some harm to the Gods. My mind feels like doing something against them. How do I get rid of such a feelings? What should I do?

Si Sri: You know if it is so compulsive, so obsessive you do it. Just go ahead and do it. But that way you are going to hurt yourself! Hurt your hand! God is not in the statue or the idol in front of you, God is in your heart. We invoke God and bring it to the statue for some moments only and again we place it back in our hearts. Like the Ganapati idol, we put it in the water. First we invoke the God in the idol, play with that for some time and after all that tell him to come back to us and reside back in our heart!!

But yes. If such a feeling persists, just observe the sensation. See what is happening within you. You know these types of violent tendencies also come because of the food you eat. All these are the Rajashik tendencies that come from food. Focus on you diet. Be aware of what you eat. Stay away from Rajasik food for sometime. Food does matter a lot. Listen to Narada Bhakti Sutra. Rejoice in the self….Be contented.

Question: Guruji after having tried all means, certain worries keep coming to me. I am not able to surrender those. What should I do?

Si Sri: Why do you need to surrender? I tell you don't surrender, this surrender is an illusion. What do you want to surrender? Anyway everything belongs to God. What is it that is yours and you want to surrender!??!? It is just a concept, I want to surrender this, I want to surrender that. This is like try catching a cat in a dark room, which is not there. Just relax; God did not want us to surrender. What to surrender? Don't worry; just know that you are nothing. The path of knowledge is easy for those who where in the head. If you think you are something wakeup and see, what are you ?!?!?! You are carbohydrate, amino acids, fats, every cell of your body has been existing millions of years ago and is also existing now and you call yourself Radha, Sita, Rama, tomorrow again this form will go and new form will come where will you go. Walk like being a big zero, but always be on the right side of the number.

I am nobody, I am nothing. These two 'dharanas' intensions, is an antidote to ignorance wakeup and see!!! And the job is done!

Question: Guruji, they say that there are two kinds of people. The first, are the kind of people who ask question out of ignorance. And the second are the people who don't ask question out of ignorance. What would be my category?

Si Sri: At least this you have realized!!! See how wise you are!!! Only a wise can understand such things!! So you are certainly not a fool. You are wise.

Question : Guruji, after having tried various means I am not able to come out of entanglement what do I do , Please help ?

Sri Sri : It maybe some Karma from the last birth or some samskaras. Do seva . Maharajji was saying that Seva would definitely remove karma of entanglement. If seva cannot remove then knowledge will remove entanglement. If knowledge cannot remove, then Bhakti (devotion) can surely remove entanglement. Even if Bhakti is not able to remove entanglement then leave it to time. With time entanglement will surely dissolve. But don't just live it to time without trying all the other means (laughter!!). Do seva be in knowledge, have Bhakti and even after that, if you are not able to get rid of your entanglement, then you just leave it on time.

Question: Guruji, how to always keep up with enthusiasm and joy?

Si Sri: Leave always. If you think of always, then craving comes. If it is always there then you would not even know that it was ever there!! Like you take a dip in a river, you feel cold and when you come out you feel warm, and again do dip in water, you feel cold, and so you experience cold because you experience the warmth.

Leave it to the divine. Our nature is joy and enthusiasm. However sometimes it gets clouded but it can never go. Our consciousness is 'nitya-nutan' (Ever fresh) this is with us forever.

Question: Guruji, they say that if you are with Narayana then Laxmi follows. So should we not follow Lakshmi?

Sri Sri : Some people don't understand this. I would say pray to lakshmi. If you don't pray to either but just do some show off with some rituals, then that is of no use. Then you land up being nowhere!! I would say, do 'upasana'(prayer). If you do upasana, then how do you get corrupt and dishonest? Don't blame wealth, pray to wealth. In Sanskrit it is said everything is wealth. That doesn't mean only the note of money.

Health is wealth, Victory is wealth, Courage is wealth, you know the Ashta Lakshmi do Upasana and you will get the benefit. Just to fulfill our financial desires, you run behind lakshmi. Use skill; pray with devotion, lakshmi will come. It will never come with foolishness.

Question: Guruji, why do we want to spend time more with the person, we are in love with?

Sri Sri : It would be unusual if you don't want to spend time with the one you are in love with. Similarly when you love yourself, you spend time with yourself. When you do that, it becomes meditation. Then it is wonderful. We like everything else, but ourself. The one who is resting inside, love that, know that!! Some people say oh ! I am bored with myself, cannot spend two hours alone. If you are bored with your self, how much boring will you be to others!! If you are not able to spend time with yourself, how will you manage to spend time with others? If you get to spend time with yourself, then I tell you are lucky. You will be contended. When this feeling comes, then no power in the world can make you shake and cry. Then Bhakti comes, mukti comes and then moksha happens. Two hours you cant spend alone!! You start sending sms to your friends; you start calling them, talking, restless. Know yourself by yourself. Khudi khud mein khud ko pao….

Question : Guruji, my mind wanders everywhere how do I meditate?

Sri Sri : Take a stick and start chasing your mind. See where it goes. If it goes to Goa chase it to Goa, if it is going to Bhavnagar, chase it there, if it is going to bhelpuri, chase it to bhelpuri, if it is going to Bhagdad, chase it to Bhagdad….. Chase, keep chasing and you see your mind is so tired that it will come and fall at your feet. That's why Maharshi Patanjali says meditate on everything, meditate on elements, on Rishis, who are out of craving, even if you meditate on Rishis who are out of craving, you get into meditation. And when you sit for satsang, you get into meditation. But sometimes if you sit for santsang, and you are not there 100%, you count the ceiling, you look here and there. You have to bring interest yourself, You have to bring the juice (ras/ necter) yourself. It is already there, you have to see the one behind. The one who put the juice. Don't think I have to do, I tell you need not do anything its all burning for you, you don't have to lit it at all. When you are in Gangaji, you don't need a shower, when you are taking a dip in the Ganges, why do you need to have a tap and a shower? Become effortless. Just know that I am nothing and I don't want anything. But don't start thinking about it continuously, this is also a Maya. That's why Adi Shankaracharya says it is foolish to even think that I am Zero.

Seva / Service

If you are not having good experiences in meditation, then do more seva you will gain merit and your meditation will be deeper. When you bring some relief or freedom to someone through seva, good vibrations and blessings come to you.
Seva brings merit; merit allows you to go deep in meditation; meditation brings back your smile.
When you make service the sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, focuses your mind, and gives you meaning
Be grateful for any opportunity to do seva.

Top

Love

Love is not an emotion, it is your very existence.
Here are the signs of love. When you love someone, you see nothing wrong with them.
When you love someone, you want to see them always happy and you want them to have the best.
Love is the highest strength, yet it makes you absolutely weak
Love cannot tolerate distance, and hatred cannot tolerate nearness.
You can experience love, but you cannot describe it or express it totally.
Love is beyond sight, touch, smell, taste, and sound.
When there is Love, there is no ego; ego dissolves like the dew drops with the sun.
In the company of one who is living Love, you also cant but spring into that Love.
Love is that phenomenon of dissolving, disappearing, merging, becoming one with.
Love is that phenomenon of total letting go.
The seers, the seen, and the process of seeing all merge. The knowledge, the knower, and the known, they all merge, become one & that is Divine Love.

Top

Anger

In ignorance anger is cheap and a smile is costly
Make your smile cheaper and you anger expensive.
The anger of the enlightened is a blessing

Top

Silence

Silence is the goal of all answers. If an answer does not silence the mind, it is no answer
Only Silence is complete
Smiling with all the existence is Silence
Purpose of words is to create silence.

Top

GOD

When you know you own God you will not be in a hurry to get something out of God.
When you have infinite patience, you will realize God belongs to you.
God does not test you because he knows you completely - your past, present and future
God is calling you every moment.
God is the Seer himself. Who sees---that is God
God is love. Being in love is sharing that love.
This entire universe is made up of God. There is nothing outside God.
God is responsibility, total responsibility.

Top

Knowledge

Be a Gopal. Be a friend in knowledge
Be a friend in knowledge. Uplift each other in knowledge
Knowledge is a burden if it does not set you free.
Knowledge keeps everything fresh.
In science you have knowledge first, and then faith follows. In spirituality, faith comes first, and then Knowledge follows.
When you follow fun, misery follows you. When you follow Knowledge, fun follows you.
Illusion is error of perception and knowing illusion as illusion is Knowledge.
Suffering is a product of limited knowledge.
For one who has awakened in knowledge, there is no more suffering.

Top

The Spiritual Master / Guru

The master is a doorway
The master is presence. The world is relativity and relativity has limitations. Presence is unlimited.
If you are not feeling close to the master, it is because of you, because of your mind, because of your ego concepts.
A master is like an ocean. Ocean is there, readily available. It does not reject anybody.
If a Master is not hollow and empty, he is no Master at all.

Top

Surrender

Do not say that you want to surrender. Just know that you already are surrendered.
A person who cannot surrender cannot be self reliant
When you are shaken, remember the foundation of responsibility is surrender.
The greatest power is in surrender, surrender to the Divine.

Top

Sadhana

Root out boredom through deep and continued meditation
If you are unable to meditate because your mind is chattering too much, just feel that you are a little stupid, and then you will be able to sink deep into meditation
Meditation erases the impressions and improves the expression
Anytime you are confused, your mind is in conflict, do asanas, sit in asana. You will see, right away clarity comes.
Effect of asana is clearing out of all conflicts, duality.
The seed of negativity and the tendency for conflict in you can only be annihilated by Sadhana.

Top

Satsang

Give quality time to the divine, it will be rewarded. Give satsang and meditation your highest priority
One who does not do satsang is like a wild animal. Satsang alone makes you civilized.
Satsang is the shelter from changing time and its harsh influence on life.

Top

Freedom

Break through the barrier of the rational mind and find freedom for yourself
Freedom is your very nature. Only with freedom do joy, generosity and other human values blossom
Just an intention to be free makes you immediately free.
Discipline protects freedom. You can choose to focus either on freedom or discipline, and this makes you happy or unhappy.
Freedom without discipline is like a country without a defense.

Top

Karma

When you praise someone, you take on their good karma. When you blame someone, you take on their bad karma
Performing actions cannot eliminate karma. Only through grace can the bondage of karma be burnt.
Prarabdha karma cannot be changed. Sanchita karma can be changed by spiritual practices.

Top

Respect

Respect for the Self is faith and faith is being open
Have respect for the Self and no one can take your self respect
Someone does not need to be great in order to be respected. Respecting life makes you great.

Top

Ego

The "I" or ego in you is a tiny atom
Ego is separateness, non-belongingness
The head level is safe for the ego. The heart level breaks the ego. The solve level dissolves the ego
The inability to communicate occurs because of ego
Someone experiences bliss, and that bliss, itself, becomes a trip for the ego. So the ego, in turn, destroys the infinity, the joy, the bliss.

Top

Death

Divinity dwells in the void as well as in celebration.
Death brings you in touch with the reality of life.
Wake up an see your life is too short. The realization that life is short will bring dynamism to your life.

Top

Breath

Breath is the link between your body and your spirit and your mind

Top

Miscellaneous

Drop all the divisions (of the mind), altogether. This is what is holding you back from enlightenment. This is what is holding you back from your very nature. Drop those right now.
Your own judgement brings the barrier, separates you, makes you behave so funny. When you are judging, you are judging your own self, but you are super-imposing it on this, or this, or this, or this, or this.
The entire universe is just an expression, projection, of the Being, of the Self.
Within this small body, you are able to experience the infinite space.
Though enlightenment is one in the world, there are many different flavors.
A poor man celebrates the new year once a year. A rich man celebrates each day. But the richest man celebrates every moment.
Abiding in the self you become the valentine for the whole world. Spirit is the valentine of matter and matter is the valentine of the spirit.
Enlightenment is beyond seasons like the evergreen coconut tree.
The world appears imperfect on the surface but underneath, all is perfect. Perfection hides; imperfection shows off.
Sincerity is being in touch with your Depth.
A big Mind that is God. And your mind is part of that big Mind.
You are total. You are full. You have all that you need. Do not underestimate yourself.
A devotee will never fall. He cannot fall. There is no chance for it.
Abundance is a state of mind within you. If you just look at "lack," the lack increases in life.
The best "puja," the best form of worship, is to be happy, to be grateful.
Over-indulgence in anything reduces the beauty.
Behind every activity, pleasant, unpleasant, chaotic, harmonious, is one Divinity.
Basing your life on words is very superficial.
Whatever you want for others will happen to you.
See a mistake as a mistake, not as "my" or "his" mistake. "My" means guilt; "his" means anger.
"Want" is always hanging on to the "I." When the "I" itself is dissolving, "want" also dissolves, disappears.
See, ninety percent of this body is only space, and space, and space. And what is in this space? That is mind; that is consciousness; that is intelligence.
Without being critical, the intellect cannot progress. But that criticism should not come from the heart; it can come from the throat.
If any has to be given, this is the blessing that has to be given: "Be devoid of feverishness."
The Self is the center of the whole creation.
If you are passionate, be passionate for the highest, the most wonderful, the most beautiful. Be passionate for this entire creation-everything is so beautiful
Truth cannot be understood through proof. Anything that can be proven can be disproven also. Truth is beyond proof or disproof.
Take a while and just relax. Repose in the depth of your being.
Forgetfulness is one of the greatest blessings.
Events cannot stick on to you. You are like the pure crystal. Niranjanah---untouched, unstained by anything.
Beauty has three levels: indication, expression, and exposure. Spirituality indicates, art expresses, and science exposes.
You are Divine. You are part of me. I am part of you.
Life is a package of surprise gifts for you.
When heart speaks and heart listens, harmony is produced. It is always so. When head talks and head listens, argument is produced.

Top

Meditation

A state in which you feel absolutely comfortable, 100% comfort, that is meditation.
A mind without agitation is meditation.
Love is seeing God in the person next to us, and meditation is seeing God within us.
Meditation is THE comfort in Life

Top

Fame

This feverishness of fame, of pride, of social recognition is immaturity. Just wake up and see there is nothing much in it. Its an empty bowl.

Top

Mystery

This world is a mystery. Love is a mystery. Life is a mystery. Your sleep is a mystery. And mystery transcends reasoning.

Top

Peace

This world is a mystery. Love is a mystery. Life is a mystery. Your sleep is a mystery. And mystery transcends reasoning.
Peace is your very nature. Peace is your innate nature---it cannot go away from you.

Top

Mind

As long as some desires linger in your mind, your mind cannot be at total rest
Small mind promises joy and leaves your hand empty. Big Mind may bring resistance in the beginning but fills you with joy.
There must be awareness in the mind, love in the heart, and righteousness in action
The mind that is seeking pleasure cannot be centered.
Your mind is a flow. Your mind is a continuum that is ever changing, ever changing.
Your concept in the mind that things should be a certain way causes pain in the mind. The cause of distress is set concepts in the mind.

Top

Habits

Habits will clog you when there is no liveliness or juice in life. When there is a direction for life force, you can rise above habits through samyama.
Your inability to do something (break a habit) can cause a pinch; when you are deeply pained by something, then that will rid you of that habit.

Top

Desire

Intimacy often gets broken because of ego or your desire.
Desire appears to lead you to happiness. In fact it cannot. And that is why it is Maya.
The greater the intensity of desire and the later it gets fulfilled, then greater will be the gratitude.
Desire and distress go together. Your desire, when it gets fulfilled, gives another desire and another desire. With each desire, distress is simply postponed.

Top

Dealing With Blame

When someone blames you, what do you usually do? Blame them back or you put up resistance in yourself. When someone blames you, they actually take away some negative karma from you.

Top

Senses

The senses are like fire. Your life is also like fire. In the fire of senses, whatever you put in burns. If you burn tires, it creates pollution and bad smell. But if you burn sandalwood, it creates fragrance.

Top

Smile

Be light. Smile. Drop. Learn the tendency to drop and smile and move through.
The sign of life is enthusiasm. The sign of success is smile and joy
Now. Now. Now. Cultivate this habit of dropping the past. Then you can smile.

Top

Dispassion

Dispassion does not take away joy from you. Dispassion gives the joy that nothing else can give.

Top

Joy & Happiness

In joy, in peace, in that soothing---very soothing---inner state you will find the happiness.
The moment there is choice it drops you off of joy, it drops you off of peace.
A hundred times the joy in a relationship is the joy of the Self being with the Self, uniting with the inner Being.
You are a fountain of joy at the center of your being.
Joy is the realization that there is no vacation from wisdom.
When we are joyful, we don't look for perfection. If you are looking for perfection then you are not at the source of joy.

Top

Spirituality

Spirituality is a harmonious blend of outer silence and inner celebration and also inner silence and outer celebration.
When attention is given to the spiritual aspect of one’s life, it brings responsibility, a sense of belongingness, and compassion and caring for the whole of humanity.
Spirit upholds and sustains life. It makes you strong and solid. It breaks down the narrow boundaries of cast, creed, religion and nationality and gives you an awareness, this uplifting of consciousness, that wars can be eliminated and human rights restored in the world today.

Top